Artistic Ella

Ella did a drawing tonight of her family. She has drawn Alex, Mummy, Charlotte and Daddy. I asked her where she was and she said that she had gone off to school. You can see where she has written her own name and tried to write Mummy and Alex. Another genius in the making!

Ella's Favourite Thing

With both Alex and Charlotte having a much needed nap today (we all stayed up late last night) Ella and I found time to sit on the floor, uniterrupted, and do some colouring in. Ella says "Colouring in is my favourite thing. I love colouring in."

Nature vs. Nurture

Notice the sandals and socks. I'm convinced that this particular need to combine sandals and socks is encoded into Alex's Canadian DNA. Bill dosn't do it and NOBODY in Australia has ever thought that if it's too cold to wear sandals it's ok to just wear socks with them. If your feet are cold then wear closed-in shoes! Anyway, with no encouragement from his parents nor having seen his friends wear something similar, the only explaination for Alex's sock/sandal dress sense is an argument for nature.

Three Points!!

Alex got a basketball hoop for his birthday. The Wii has had some lingering effects. One of his favourite games on the Wii was the sports games which has meant that Alex has shown an interest in these games when he's outside too. He loves playing basketball and every time the ball goes through the hoop it's "3 points!", unless he's playing against me. I only ever get 1 point.

Alex's New Bed

For the past 3 months or so Charlotte has refused to sleep in her cot, so all three kids have been sharing a room. Alex would sleep on the top bunk and the two girls would sleep in the bottom bunk which is a double bed. This mostly worked out ok. Early mornings were becoming routine as one kid would wake up the other two and then they would all come in and wake up me.
So, having had enough of playing 'there were four in the bed and the little one said' at 5am, Alex has finally gotten his own bed and bedroom. He loves it. And the best bit, I think, is that the first night he went to bed in it he said to me "... and tomorrow I can wake up and play by myself. Quietly." I thought he would miss the company of the girls. Apparently I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Happy Birthdays All Around

Birthday parties are exhausting. As Alex and Charlotte celebrate their birthdays so close together Ella feels very left out and hard done by because she does not recieve any cards in the mail or presents. I have explained the reasons over and over again but she still complains. So, next year I'm going to have one huge birthday bash in October for all three kids. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see if I'm over this one by March next year.

And... we're back!

Bill is away again for an extended period and he has internet access so I thought it might be a good time to start up the 'ole blog again. No promises, though, on how regular this will be. I'll aim for every couple of days, though.
Alex and Charlotte celebrated their birthdays on Sunday with their (and my) closest friends. It was a lovely day, hot and sunny, and filled with sugary treats. I've been eating cake for over a week now. My mum made a lovely barn yard birthday cake, half of which is still in my kitchen but disappearing piece by yummy piece every night.